A Danger to Herself and Others

by Alyssa Sheinmel

I suppose your name is the first thing that ever really belongs to you, but when you think about it, it’s not yours at all.

It was so easy when I was five, to manipulate my parents’ friends into being ashamed of their own children, into thinking I was so much better.

It’s still so easy.

Here’s something they never tell you in books and movies about being imprisoned or institutionalized or trapped (books I’m not allowed to read and movies I can’t watch now that Lightfoot controls all my media access): Being locked up is absurdly boring. The monotony is enough to drive a sane person crazy.